Frothing At the Heart
by Invisible Hearts
Summary: What happens when a certain lovable foaming fanboy meets the girl of his dreams?


**Note: Please understand that this is a one-shot and it's kind of a joke. My friend and I challenged each other to write a one-shot fanfic about two A:TLA characters (more specifically, a romance crackship, that is, an unusual/impossible pairing) , so here is mine. Enjoy? C:**

_Frothing From the Heart_

Foamy sadly walked along the unusually quiet streets of Ba Sing Se. The lower ring had been mostly abandoned by it's inhabitants, who all went to the Firelight Fountain to celebrate the 4-month anniversary of the ending of the war. He didn't even bother going. If you've seen it once, you've seen it enough. It was nothing special. The lower ring couldn't afford very detailed or especially pretty decorations- they were pricy after all. All the citizens do is dance around and drink cactus-juice coladas. Besides, he had no one to dance with.

He had left Kyoshi island as soon as he heard the avatar was in Ba Sing Se. Too bad he reached it a bit too late. The avatar was long gone by the time he had arrived.

Oh, well. He had decided to stay, exploring the famous streets of Ba Sing Se on his own. He was 16, and after being stuck on the small Kyoshi island for nearly two decades, he decided he was ready to see more.

So, here he was. The streets were abandoned this night, and he could hear the distant cheering and music. The blue sky was darkening by the minute and he kept walking, dragging his feet, looking down at the ground with an expression of apathy. How boring his life was. His thoughts drifted to the time when the avatar had arrived, the sheer joy and happiness and hope he had felt, which cause him to overflow and erupt his feelings in the form of foam. A drop of saliva trickled from his mouth, as he wiped it away from his sleeve, missing those feelings of excitement.

Oh how he had wished to see the avatar again! Seeing a mere statue of him would not satisfy his craving. No, he had to see the Avatar in person, or own one of his objects. He had to be connected to the avatar again. Seeing him once was not enough.

Foamy's nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by noticing a flicker of light in the corner of his eye. He heard a window opening and light illuminated the street. He stopped shuffling his feet and looked up to see in the second floor of a small, ratty building, the face of an older teenage girl, her eyes sparkling, her face radiating. His mouth opened slightly and before he knew it he was staring at her. The girl looked out onto the street, clearly oblivious to the young man looking up at her. She tugged on her ponytail and leaned on the windowsill, looking down at the street, sighing. She finally turned his way and saw the dark figure in the street looking up at her. Foamy's heart skipped a beat, his mouth started to salivate the second they made eye contact, the minute her eyes met his.

"Hi there!" She called out, waving slightly. Foamy tried to find the words to say, but his tongue was tied in a knot, and gibberish came out.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you!" She leaned a bit out the window, placing her hand to her ear. Foamy stuttered once again and just smiled shyly. The girl looked at him and left the window. He sighed. Figures, he never had much luck with girls. He hung his head even lower than before and continued walking.

"Hey, wait up!" He turned around as he heard that same same and sound of light footsteps. The girl was in front of him, even prettier close up. "I'm Jin." The girl extended her arm. "What's your name?" This was about the closest he ever was with a girl. For some reason, girls didn't really approach him often. The words just burbled in his mouth and he had a tough time putting them together. "You don't seem like you're from around here. I mean, Ba Sing Se has people from all over the earth kingdom, and apparently oven some from the fire nation now that the war has ended, but you seem more.. foreign." Jin looked him up and down and noticed his blue outfit. "Are you from the water tribe?" Foamy was about to deny, but then just shook his head to save himself the embarrassment.

"K-kyoshi Island..." he said in his awkward, slightly high-pitch voice after he had thought out the words to say.

"Oh? That's so cool! Like the Kyoshi Warriors?" she asked, smiling.

"Uhhumnm" he said, surprised Jin knew so much about his homeland.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Jin sighed. "So why aren't you at the festival?" Jin tilted her head in interest.

It took a while for the fact that he was talking to an actual girl to seep in.

"Just..." he said, mixing up his words, yet again.

"It's boring, huh?" she asked. "The firelight fountain is my favorite place in the lower ring. But the adults are hogging it today, getting drunk and being silly." she paused and looked at her feet. "So... are you just visiting this place or...?" Foamy shook his head. "So you live here now?"

"Uh... yeah. A few blocks away." He scratched his head and looked up at the star-lit sky. He felt the awkwardness starting to come in.

"Oh, cool. I guess I'll see you later, then?" Jin said, smiling.

"Y-yeah, bye." He waved to her as she ran back inside. She'll _see him later_? No girl has talked to him for this long once, let alone wanted to talk again. Or was she just being polite? He ran to his house and foamed like he had never foamed before.

The following day, Foamy woke up, went through his daily hygiene routine, quickly got dressed and ran outside for a "morning stroll", to see if the lovely Jin was at her window. To his dismay, she was not. He sulked as he started to walk back to his cramped apartment.

"Hey there!" The sound so lovely, it was if it was the Avatar himself. He turned around to see Jin waving and walking towards him carrying a basket of herbs. "A morning walk, huh? I wake up pretty early myself, I have to pick all these in the Agrarian Zone for a local tea shop." He looked at the herbs and his eye traveled slowly to her face. When they made eye contact, he blushed, and looked away quickly. "You never told me your name, Kyoshi Boy." He made a shy smile. She had already given him a nickname. Jin sighed. "I guess I'll just call you that for now, since you won't tell me. It's okay, I like the mysterious type." She playfully smirked. "You're not busy right now, are you?" He quickly shook his head. Jin grabbed him by the sleeve and started walking down the street, leading him like a lost puppy. He looked at her in confusion. Jin smiled. "I'm taking you to the Pao Family Tea House. It's the best tea in the city, or at least it was, until Mushi and Lee left. Mushi made the best tea, and Lee was pretty cute, too bad he has a girlfriend. I wonder if they're still together?" Jin trailed off. Foamy couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. So she already had someone in mind. Jin quickly picked up the conversation. "Well, now Mushi runs the Jasmine Dragon in the Upper Ring. So the Pao Family Tea House is the best in the lower ring. It's one of the only tea shops in the lower ring, anyway. And now I work there to earn some extra money to help out my parents. You see, my mother has been a bit sickly lately..."

Foamy was in ecstasy for the entire walk to the tea house. Not only has this been the second time an especially pretty girl was talking to him willingly, she seemed to be interested in him. It took all his willpower not to froth. Every few minutes or so, he would have to wipe the corner of his mouth, but that was fine by him. He could not, would not mess this up.

"And I've been working here ever since Lee and Mushi left. I'm usually just a waitress but I've been getting paid extra for collecting ingredients once a week. It's a far walk, and it's not too fun, but it's nice to have some extra money for trinkets and a few nice things, you know?" She stopped looked at Foamy, who was trailing a foot behind her. "Well, here we are." Foamy looked up at the small, dingy-looking shack. "Even though the war has ended, renovation is a bit slow..." Jin looked at Foamy. "Well come in! I might even be able to get you a free cup of tea without Pao noticing." Jin smiled at him. And he smiled back.

After an interesting day of watching Jin tend to customers and smiling as she passed Foamy by, he finally understood - Jin liked him. Or at least liked him as a friend. Or maybe she just wasn't completely disgusted by him? Oh well, he could settle for any of those. He wasn't exactly a popular guy, and he was beginning to suspect the foaming had something to do with it. But how was it his fault that he loved being in the Avatar's presence more than others? He took a sip of his average-tasting lukewarm chamomile tea. It was nothing to be ashamed of, he convinced himself, to be the Avatar's number one fan. Jin walked to his table, took off her apron, pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Ugh... today was a busy day." she moaned. Jin put her face in her hands and slumped. "All the party-goers from yesterday come here to cure their hangover-induced morning headaches. What's more, I had to work through my lunch break because another worker took the day off today. Probably puking out all the cactus juice. I'b better be paid extra." Jin mumbled, and Foamy listened to her complaints. He pushed the cup of tea towards her, and she sat up straight an took a sip. "That's better." she sighed. She suddenly smirked. "You know, it's like we just shared an indirect kiss." Foamy looked at her in confusion and his heart started to beat faster. Was she _flirting_ with him? "You know, your lips touched this cup and then mine touched it." She _was _flirting with him. Foamy stared into space, the blood rushing to his face. It required all his willpower not to froth. "Relax, I'm just joking. You don't have to act so upset." Jin looked at him, a bit disappointed. She had taken his lack of words as something else. Foamy quickly shook his head and reached out to touch her arm. She pulled away. "It's okay. I have to get back to work." Jin stood up and smiled a sad-looking smile. Foamy sunk into his chair and covered his face with his palms. The first friend he had, and this happened?

After another long shift, Jin and her new friend walked home. "You know, we should hang out some more." she looked at Foamy, who just nodded his head quickly in agreement. Jin sighed. "You seem like an interesting person, and you listen to what I have to say, but I also wish you could tell me a bit about yourself." Foamy scratched his head in confusion. There wasn't much to him.

"I-I like the Avatar." he admitted in his squeal-ish voice. Jin looked at him and laughed. He felt his heart sink.

"Of course you do! _Everybody _likes the avatar! I mean, he saved the world, right?" She continued to giggle while Foamy thought of something to impress her.

"I met him." Foamy said, while Jin's laughing subsided.

"You did? That's so cool!" she said, facing him, her green eyes lit up with delight. "How did you react, no, how did you _feel _when you met him? I mean, that must have been an amazing experience!"

"Excited... hopeful..." he trailed off, remembering the time the Avatar came to Kyoshi Island.

"I'm so jealous." she said quietly. She stopped walking. When Foamy looked up, he noticed they were at her house already. Too bad. "We should hang out again. Next week, would you like to come pick the tea herbs with me? I'll give you a cut of my bonus." Jin smiled as he nodded excitedly. "Well I guess I'll see you sometime soon, then." She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek.

But now, it was too much. Talking and mild flirting he could handle, but a kiss on the cheek was over the limit. He no longer had control; his body went numb, and his mouth started to froth. He flailed his arms and said unintelligible syllables. He collapsed on the floor and saw Jin's horrified face before it faded to black.

When he woke up, dizzy and expecting to be out on the cold, filthy street floor, he instead noticed a warm, radiating light. Was he in heaven? He slowly opened his eyes to see Jin standing overhead.

"Are you okay?" she asked in a tender voice. It took a moment or two for the fact to hit him - he was in Jin's house. He nodded. How was it that she was not entirely freaked out?

"You really scared me, collapsing like that." She let out a small chuckle. "Is this why you don't talk too often?" Bulls-eye. Foamy looked away. "It's a bit gross, but I'll get used to it, I suppose." Jin chuckled. This girl could only be an angel fallen from the heavens. "Can I call you Foamy now?" She continued to giggle. Oh, never mind. She was just making fun of him. His heart fell. Jin noticed his change of mood. "Silly, I'm joking. Friends can have nicknames for each other, right?" _Friends. _How nice it was to hear her call him that, even though he yearned for more. Too late. His chances disappeared as soon as the saliva left his mouth. "I like you, you know." He looked at her in disbelief. Jin blushed and looked away. "Let me walk you home."

As strange as the situation was (a few minutes ago, it was reversed, the way it should be) Jin and Foamy approached his house.

"Now it should be safe to say our goodbyes." Jin laughed. "See you later, Foamy." And this time, she leaned in, to kiss him on the lips instead. His face was nearly boiling, and he could smell the scent of ginger and jasmine on her. He lips were softer than the fur of a rabbaroo, and just the idea of a girl like her kissing a guy like him was... intoxicating. She pulled away after a three-second kiss, which he wished could've lasted longer. _Bye _she mouthed, as she walked away, waving. Foamy stared at her blankly, her figure slowly shrinking as she walked away. His heart was beating at what seemed like a dangerous rate, and he ran inside, limbs shaking, palms sweaty. He collapsed on his bed and frothed and foamed and fizzed at the mouth - even more so than the day before - and fainted right there, his drifting into dreams about his first friend, and possibly his first love.

-IH


End file.
